Queens spoil ENMU’s home opener, 66-48

Published 2:34 pm, Monday, November 26, 2012

Wayland Baptist Flying Queen Aubrey Pedigo runs into a road block during a recent game against ENMU.

Wayland Baptist Flying Queen Aubrey Pedigo runs into a road block during a recent game against ENMU.

Photo: Wayland Baptist University Photo

Queens spoil ENMU’s home opener, 66-48

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PORTALES, N.M. - Wayland Baptist won for the fifth time in six games and spoiled Eastern New Mexico University’s home opener here Saturday afternoon as the Flying Queens won, 66-48.

“This is a tough place to play,” Wayland coach Tory Bryant said, adding that the contest “seemed kind of like a conference game” because the Queens “had to fight tooth and nail.”

Angeleigh Davis scored a season-high 19 points, Rochelle Norris matched her season-best with 13 and Laura Castillo tacked on 11 for the Queens, who outscored ENMU by 18 at the free-throw line in improving to 6-3. The Zias remained winless at 0-4.

“I’m proud of the kids for what they did at the free-throw line,” Bryant said. “Any time you shoot more than 20 free throws a game… . We did a good job of attacking them in our offense.”

The lead changed hands 11 times in the first 15 minutes, but Wayland went on a 15-3 half-ending run to take control of the game.

“I felt like we started kind of slow. We seemed to be a step slow defensively,” Bryant said. “It took time for both teams to get in the flow.”

The Queens held a comfortable 33-22 lead at the half, and the Zias never got closer than seven points after that.

The Zias never led by more than two points, and their last lead was 19-18 when Wayland made its half-ending push in the closing five minutes before intermission.

The Queens made the most of several steals, which they turned into numerous fast-break points.

“Our defense in the half-court gave them some problems and we were able to get some deflections and turn those into points,” Bryant said. “That was key for us during that run.”

Five Queens scored during the pivotal run, with Jordan Scott-Benson and Christie Mooney netting four each.

Davis led Wayland with 11 points at the break.

Wayland went up by 16 points, 45-29, some 6½ minutes into the second half, although ENMU cut it to seven on a couple of occasions. Both times the Queens were able to keep the Zias from getting any closer.

“The second half we came out strong,” Bryant said.

ENMU was within 50-43 when Wayland scored six straight points to fend off the challenge. The Queens also scored the last six points of the game, capped by a fast-break layup by Davis just before the buzzer to make the final margin their largest lead.

“We did a decent job of making free throws down the stretch, and we got some stops, too,” Bryant said.

For the game, Wayland hit 24-of-30 free throws compared to just 6-of-17 for ENMU, which was led by Jaylyn Cooper’s 13 points.

Both teams struggled with turnovers with Wayland committing 22 and the Zias 26.

The Queens return to New Mexico to take on the University of the Southwest at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Hobbs before returning home to take on Texas-Permian Basin at 7 p.m. Thursday. That’s the final game before Wayland’s Sooner Athletic Conference opener on the road against Lubbock Christian University on Dec. 4.